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'«»»i'a;'g''!"»'v,^vw>Bwv'»it,vf.wii-?v';iir-'^ja;ry 


%^    4p. 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHIVI/ICIVIH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


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ues 


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i.  I 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


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D 
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Covers  damaged/ 
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Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
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Cover  title  missing/ 

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Coloured  maps/ 

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Ce  document  est  film6  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqud  ci-dessous. 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

PVi^HMI 

26X 

30X 

1 
1 

X 

i9y 

^^^ 

IfiX 

20X 

24X 

28X 

32X 

ire 

details 
68  du 
modifier 
ler  une 
filmage 


The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

Library  of  Congress 
Photoduplication  Service 

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Library  of  Congress 
Photoduplication  Service 

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conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 


j6es 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
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the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  pagis  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  -^►(meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  y  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 


Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprim6e  sont  film6s  en  commen^ant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'imprs'sion  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  seion  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  filmAs  en  commenpant  par  la 
premiere  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  derniire  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  — ►  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbole  V  signifie  "FIN". 


lire 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  dtre 
film^s  A  des  taux  de  reduction  diff6rents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clichA,  il  est  film6  A  partir 
da  Tangle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  h  droite. 
et  da  haut  An  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nAcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mAthode. 


by  errata 
led  to 

ent 

une  pelure, 

fapon  A 


1 

2 

3 

32X 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

I*        -T 


^ii' 


p^^ "    'i:    I '"TT -■-)"*' — ""fi -^^.— ..-I  .p -ic^ — __— ^.j.^.^^^.^  '';.'^r*^."""""iia"iTa''^ 


C.  Y.  R  I1.E  Y,l 
Wachinrton, 


THE  LANGUAGE 


OF 


PALAEOLITHIC  MAN: 


f^^^'^^t^i-m. 


BY 


;?^R] 


DANIEL  GfBRINTON,  M.D., 


Professcr  of  American  Linguistics  and  Archaology  In  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 


W 


•i 


Read  before  the  American  Philosophioal  Society, 
October  8,  1888. 


PRESS  OF  MacCALLA  &  CO., 

Nod.  287-9  Dock  Strut,  Puiladrlpria. 

1888. 


MP 


■» 


•-1       'v4"<<.    JblUl 


"AV  .,2  1914 


r  ...  !•» 


I  III  I  m  mmmrtmmiiimtmtmmmm^iimmmm^mimmm 


%  I  l|  10  I   I 


^ 


.\0 


^ 


ne  Language  of  PalaoUthU  Man. 

By  Daniel  G.  Brinton,  M.D. 

{Read  before  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  October  s,  1888.) 

ArchiEologists  tell  us  that  the  mar  ufacturers  of  those  rude  stone 
implements  called  palaeoliths  wandered  up  and  down  the  world 
while  a  period  of  something  like  two  hundred  thousand  years  was 
unrolling  its  eventless  .centuries.  Many  believe  that  these  early 
artisans  had  not  the  power  of  articulate  expression  to  convey  their 
emotions  or  ideas;  if  such  they  had,  they  were  confined  to  inarticu- 
late grunts  and  cries. 

Haeckel  proposed  for  the  species  at  this  period  of  its  existence 
the  designation  Homo  alalus,  speechless  man.  Anatomists  have 
come  forward  to  show  that  the  inferior  maxillary  bones  disinterred 
in  the  caves  of  La  Naulette  and  Schipka  are  so  formed  that  their 
original  possessors  could  not  have  had  the  power  of  articulation.* 
But  the  latest  investigators  of  this  point  have  reached  an  opposite 
conclusion. t  We  must,  however,  concede  that  the  oral  communi- 
cation of  men  during  that  long  epoch  was  of  a  very  rudimentary 
character;  it  is  contrary  to  every  theory  of  intellectual  evolution 
to  suppose  that  they  possessed  a  speech  approaching  anything  near 
even  the  lowest  organized  of  the  linguistic  stocks  now  in  existence. 
By  an  attentive  consideration  of  some  of  these  lowest  stocks,  can 
we  not  form  a  somewhat  correct  conception  of  what  was  the  char- 
acter of  the  rudimentary  utterances  of  the  race?  I  think  we  can, 
but,  as  I  believe  I  am  the  first  to  attempt  such  a  picture,  I  offer  it 
with  becoming  diffidence. 

The  physiological  possibility  that  palieolithic  man  possc'^ed  a 
language  has,  .as  I  have  said,  been  already  vindicated ;  and  that  he 
was  intellectually  capable  of  speech  could,  I  think,  scarcely  be 
denied  by  any  one  who  will  contemplate  the  conception  of  sym- 
metry, the  technical  skill,  and  the  wise  adaptation  to  use,  mani- 
fested in  some  of  the  oldest  specimens  of  his  art ;  as  for  example 
the  axes  disinterred  from  the  ancient  strata  of  San  Isidro,  near 
Madrid,  those  found  forty  feet  deep  in  the  post-glacial  gravels  near 

♦  "L'homme  chcUeen  n'  avaltpas  la  parole,"  MortlUet,  La  PrehUtoriqtte  AntiqitiU  de 
VHomine,  p.  250  (Paris.  1883). 

t  See  Dr.  H.  Steinthal,  Der  Unpnmg  der  Sprache.  8.  264,  et  »eq.  (Berlin,  1888),  who  re- 
hearses the  discussion  of  the  point  with  aufilclent  fullness.  ,  -     .  • 


'i 


I 


Trenton,  New  Jersey,  or  some  of  those  figured  by  De  Mortillet  as 
derived  from  the  beds  of  the  Somme  in  France.*  We  have  evidence 
that  at  that  period  man  made  use  of  fire ;  that  he  raised  shelters  to 
protect  himself  from  the  weather;  that  he  possessed  some  means  cf 
navigating  the  streams ;  that  he  could  occasionally  overcome  pow- 
erful and  ferocious  beasts;  that  he  already  paid  some  attention  to 
ornamenting  his  person  ;  that  he  lived  in  communities ;  and  that 
his  migrations  were  extensive.f  In  view  of  all  this,  is  it  not  highly 
improbable  that  he  was  destitute  of  any  vocal  powei-s  of  expressing 
his  plans  and  his  desires  ?  I  maintain  that  we  should  dismiss  the 
Homo  alaius  as  a  scientific  romance  which  has  served   its  time. 

More  than  this,  I  believe  that  by  a  judicious  study  of  existing 
languages,  especially  those  which  have  suffered  little  by  admixture 
or  by  distant  removals,  we  can  picture  with  reasonable  fidelity  the 
character  of  the  earliest  tongues  spoken  by  man,  the  speech  of  the 
Palneolithic  Age. 

This  primitive  utterance  was,  of  course,  not  the  same  everywhere. 
It  varied  indefinitely.  But  for  all  that  it  is  almost  certain  that  in 
all  localities  it  proceeded  on  analogous  lines  of  development,  just  as 
languages  have  everywhere  and  zt  :A\  times  since.  By  studying 
simple  and  isolated  languages,  those  which  have  suffered  least  by 
contact  with  others,  or  by  alterations  in  conditions  of  culture,  we 
can  catch  some  glimpses  of  the  character  of  man's  earliest  signifi- 
cant expressions,  the  "baby-talk  of  the  race,"  if  I  may  use  the 
expression.  I  have  gleaned  a  certain  number  of  such  traits  in  the 
field  of  American  linguistics,  and  present  them  to  you  as  curiosities, 
which,  like  other  curiosities,  have  considerable  significance  to  those 
who  will  master  their  full  purport. 

The  question  I  am  about  to  consider,  is,  you  will  observe,  quite 
different  from  that  which  concerns  itself  with  the  origin  of  linguistic 
stocks.  Many  of  these  unquestionably  arose  long  after  man  had 
acquired  well-developed  languages,  and  when  the  cerebral  convolu- 
tions whose  activity  is  manifested  in  articulate  expression  had 
acquired  a  high  grade  of  development  through  hereditary  training. 
How  such  stocks  may  have  arisen  has  been  lucidly  set  forth  by  my 
learned  friend  Mr.  Horatio  Hale.     He  demonstrates  by  many  ex- 


*  See,  «Mr  initance,  PUto  x  of  Morttllet,  ifiufe  PrtkUtoHqve;  CMUUhM.  A^t  Prm*- 

toriqua  de  TEtpagne,  plate  on  p.  27. 

1 1  have  coUected  the  evidenoe  for  this  la  an  BaMy  on  Prehbtorio  Anshaeologf ,  in  the 
leanotrapMc  Encydopedia,  Vol.  U. 


'''^!.iy.jwniiii).4yiMy|.l 


.JHW.WI 


?W1!"*V" 


De  Mortillet  aa 
e  have  evidence 
aised  shelters  to 
1  some  means  cf 
overcome  pow- 
ne  attention  to 
lities;  and  that 
is  it  not  highly 
■s  of  expressing 
uld  dismiss  the 
rved   its  time, 
udy  of  existing 
J  by  admixture 
ble  fidelity  the 
!  speech  of  the 

le  everywhere, 
certain  that  in 
»pment,  just  as 
By  studying 
Fered  least  by 
of  culture,  we 
earliest  signifi- 
may  use  the 
1  traits  in  the 
as  curiosities, 
:ance  to  those 

jbserve,  quite 
n  oi  linguistic 
rter  man  had 
bral  convolu- 
:pression  had 
tary  training. 
t  forth  by  my 
by  many  ex- 

Ixw).  Afitt  PtOHi- 
ihiuAogf,  In  the 


I 

amples  that  in  the  present  cerebral  evolution  of  man,  infants  develop 
an  articulate  language  with  the  same  natural  facility  that  any  other 
species  of  animal  does  the  vocal  utterances  peculiar  to  its  kind.'" 

But  in  this  essay  I  am  contemplating  man  as  he  was  before  hun- 
dreds of  generations  of  speaking  ancestors  had  evolved  such  cere- 
bral powers. 

I  begin  with  some  observations  on  the  phonetic  elements.  These 
are  no  other  than  what  we  call  the  alphabet,  the  simple  sounds  which 
combined  together  make  up  the  words  of  a  language.  In  all  Euro- 
pean tongues,  the  mere  letters  of  the  alphabet,  by  themselves,  have 
no  meaning  and  convey  no  idea;  furthermore,  their  value  in  a  word 
is  fixed ;  and  thirdly,  arranged  in  a  word,  they  are  sufficient  to 
convey  its  sound  and  sense  to  one  acquainted  with  their  values. 

Judged  by  certain  American  examples,  all  three  of  these  seem- 
ingly fundamental  characteristics  of  the  phonetic  elements  were 
absent  in  primitive  speech,  and  have  become  stable  only  by  a  long 
process  of  growth.  We  find  tongues  in  which  the  primary  sounds 
are  themselves  significant,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  are  highly  vari- 
able ;  and  we  find  many  examples  in  which  they  are  inadequate  to 
convey  the  sense  of  the  articulate  sound. 

As  exemplifying  these  peculiarities  I  take  the  Tinni  or  Athapas- 
can, spoken  widely  in  British  America,  and  of  which  the  Apache 
and  Navaho  in  the  United  States  are  branches.  You  know  that  in 
English  the  vowels  A,  E,  I,  O,  U,  and  the  consonants,  as  such,  F, 
S,  K,  and  the  others,  convey  to  your  mind  no  meaning,  are  -not 
attached  to  any  idea  or  train  of  ideas.  This  is  altogether  different 
in  the  Tinn6.  We  are  informed  by  Bishop  Faraud,t  a  thorough 
master  of  that  tongue,  that  its  significant  radicals  are  the  five  primi- 
tive vowel  sounds.  A,  E,  I,  O,  U.  Of  these  A  expresses  matter, 
E  existence,  I  force  or  energy,  O  existence  doubtful,  and  U  exist- 
ence absent,  non-existence,  negation  or  succession.  These  vowels 
are  "put  in  action,"  as  he  phrases  it,  by  single  or  double  conso- 
nants, ■'  which  have  moi;e  or  less  value  in  proportion  as  the  vowel  is 
more  or  less  strong."  These  consonantal  sounds,  as  we  learn  at 
length  from  the  works  on  this  language  by  Father  Petitot,  are  also 
materially  significant.     They  are  numerous,  being  sixty-three  in 

•  8«e  hbt  addien  on  "The  Origin  of  Langnages  and  the  Antiquity  of  Speaking  Man," 
In  the  Proceedings  qf  the  American  AMoclaiiuti  for  the  Advaneemtnt  (if  Sdmee,  Vol.  xxxv, 
p.  27». 

t  IHz-/tu<(  ^fw  cAei  {«<  jShUMKWW,  p.  W. 


* 


' 


all,  and  are  divided  into  nine  different  classes,  each  of  which  con* 
veyg  a  series  of  related  or  associated  ideas  in  the  native  mind. 

Thus,  the  labials  express  the  ideas  of  time  and  space,  as  age, 
length,  distance,  and  also  whiteness,  the  last  mentioned,  perhaps, 
through  association  with  the  white  hair  of  age,  or  the  endless  snow- 
fields  of  their  winter.  The  dentals  express  all  that  relates  to  force 
terminating,  hence  uselessness,  inanity,  privation,  smallne^s,  feeble- 
ness; and  also  greatness,  elevation,  the  motor  power.  The  nasals 
convey  the  general  notion  of  motion  in  repetition  ;  hence,  rotation, 
reduplication,  gravitation,  and,  by  a  singularly  logical  association, 
organic  life.  The  gutturals  indicate  motion  in  curves ;  hence,  sinu- 
ousness,  fli;xibility,  ebullition,  roundness,  and  by  a  linear  figure 
different  from  that  which  underlies  the  Latin  rectitudo,  justness,  cor- 
rectness. The  H,  either  as  an  aspirate  or  an  hiatus,  introduces  the 
ideas  of  command  and  subjection,  elevation  and  prostration,  and 
the  like.* 

You  will  observe  that  in  some  of  these  cases  the  signification  of 
a  sound  includes  both  a  notion  and  its  opposite,  as  greatness  and 
smallness.   This  is  an  interesting  feature  to  which  I  shall  refer  later. 

Turn  now  to  another  language,  the  Cree.  Geographically  it  is 
contiguous  to  the  Tinn6;  but,  says  Bishop  Faraud,  who  spoke  them 
both  fluently,  they  resemble  each  other  no  more  than  the  French 
does  the  Chinese.  Nevertheless,  we  discover  this  same  peculiarity 
of  materially  significant  phonetic  elements.  Howse,  in  his  Cree 
Grammar,  observes  that  the  guttural  K  and  the  labial  W,  constitute 
the  essential  part  of  all  intensive  terms  in  that  language,  "  vt^hether 
the  same  be  attributive,  formative,  or  personal  accident."  Indeed, 
he  maintains  that  the  articulate  sounds  of  the  Cree  all  express  rela- 
tive powers,  feebleness  or  force,  independent  of  their  position  with 
reference  to  other  sounds. 

You  may  inquire  whether  in  the  different  groups  of  American 
tongues  the  same  or  a  similar  signification  is  attached  to  any  one 
sound,  or  to  the  sounds  of  any  one  organ.  If  it  were  so,  it  would 
give  countenance  to  those  theories  which  maintain  that  tiiere  is 
some  fixed  relation  between  sound  and  sense  in  the  radicals  of  lan- 
guages. I  must  reply  that  I  have  found  very  little  evidence  for  this 
theory ;  and  yet  some.  For  example,  the  N  sound  expresses  the 
notion  of  the  ego,  of  myself-ness,  in  a  great  many  tongues,  far 


•  Fetttot,  DUUofmaixt  de  (a  Langue  DtaU  DMiiU,  Introduction. 


h  of  which  con- 
itive  inind. 
1  space,  as  age, 
tioned,  perhaps, 
\\e  endless  snow- 
:  relates  to  force 
mallne%  feeble- 
er.  The  nasals 
hence,  rotation, 
cal  association, 
es;  hence,  sinu- 

a  linear  figure 
fo,  justness,  cor- 

introduces  the 
rostration,  and 

signification  of 
s  greatness  and 
hall  refer  later, 
raphically  it  is 
ho  spoke  them 
lan  the  French 
ime  peculiarity 
«,  in   his  Creg 
I  W,  constitute 
Jge,  "  whether 
nt."     Indeed, 
1  express  rela- 
position  with 

5  of  American 
id  to  any  one 
e  so,  it  would 

that  there  is 
dicals  of  lan- 
dence  for  this 
expresses  the 

tongues,   far 


»>W.i^bilii»yj'il»i'MfflWtl'l<UJ|Hlli:' 


■w^w 


fxmmammmsmi. 


apart  geographically  and  linguistically.  It  is  the  sound  at  the  basis 
of  the  personal  pronoun  of  the  tirst  person  and  of  the  words  for 
man  in  numerous  dialects  in  North  and  South  America.  Again, 
the  K  sound  is  almost  as  widely  associated  with  the  ideas  of  o/Aer- 
ness,  and  is  at  the  base  of  the  personal  pronoun  of  the  second  per- 
son singular  and  of  the  expressions  for  superhuman  personalities, 
the  divine  existences.*  It  is  essentially  demonstrative  in  its  power. 
Again,  in  a  long  array  of  tongues  in  various  parts  of  the  world 
the  subjective,  relation  is  expressed  by  the  M  sound,  as  has  been 
pointed  out  by  Dr.  Winkler;  and  other  examples  could  be  added. 
Many  of  these  it  is  impossible  to  attribute  to  derivation  from  a 

*  without  carrying  the  corapariion  of  the  Ungiilitio  itocki  beyond  tbow  moat  (kmlllar 
to  the  ethnologlit,  I  add  the  following  comparisons  to  conflrm  the  itatomenttof  the  text: 

DialeeU  in  BrtlUh  America. 


I 

man 

thou 

divinity 

ERkimo,       ' 

wonga 

Innult 

wootik 

Athapascan, 

nl-yun 

ttnntS 

Cree  (AlgonkUn), 

nl 

lyin 

ki 

oklilkow 

Hb  iah, 

o-hltn 

tuu-ka 

Bllboola, 

Inih 

"Tihlmihlan, 

ni'ulo 

KawlUhln, 

un-ia 

enlka 

nikt 

Chinook, 

nlka 

kahttn 

mika 

BhahaptanI, 

ein  uk 
VtaleeU  in  the 

wins 
United  State*. 

I 

man 

thou 

divinity 

Lenape  (Algonklan), 

nl 

lennl 

kl 

okl 

Choctaw, 

unno 

Ota- 

Muskokl, 

unneh 

Dakota, 

on,  un,  (pi.) 

wakan 

Dtalecte  in  ilexieo. 

I 

man 

thou 

divinity 

Huaiteca, 

nana 

Into 

xaxa 

ku 

Othoml, 

nuga 

nyoeh 

n'go  ' 

oqha 

Nahuatl, 

nl 

Tarasca, 

nl 

i 

Maya, 

in,  en 

ulnlo 

eoh 

ku 

Zapotoca, 

naa 

piakele  in  South  America. 

1 

man 

thou 

divinity 

Qquichua, 

noka 

khani 

kam 

huaka 

Aymava, 

na 

huaka 

Araucanlan, 

in-ohe 

Ablpone, 

aym 

akaml 

Carib  (dlaleoti). 

n 

k 

On  the  aatonlstiingly  wide  dlatrlbntion  of  the  n  and  it  Bounds  as  primitive  demonstra- 
ttves,  compare  H.  Winkler,  UralaUaitehe  VdOcer  wul  Spraehen,  ».  86, 87  (Berlin,  1884).  For 
other  oompurlsons,  see  Tolmie  and  Dawson,  VocabtUariei  qf  Indi.  qf  Britiih  Mumbia, 
p.  128. 


y;  <.' 


'if' 


«IJi.  ILU..'."  »M 


common  source.  Some  writers  maintain  that  sounds  have  a  subjec- 
tive and  fixed  relation  to  ideas;  others  call  such  coincidences 
"blind  chance,"  but  these  should  remember  that;  chance  itself 
means  merely  the  action  of  laws  not  yet  discovered. 

Yuu  might  suppose  that  this  distinction,  I  mean  that  between  se^ 
and  o//iet,  between  /,  iAou  and  Ae,  is  fundamental^  that  speech  could 
not  proceed  without  it.  You  would  be  mistaken.  American  lan- 
guages furnish  conclusive  evidence  that  for  unnumbered  generations 
mankind  got  along  well  enough  without  any  such  discrimination. 
One  and  the  same  monosyllable  served  for  all  three  persons  and 
both  numbers.  The  meaning  of  this  monosyllable  was  undoubtedly 
"  any  living  human  being."  Only  after  a  long  time  did  it  become 
differentiated  by  the  addition  of  locative  paiticles  into  the  notions, 
"I — living  human  being,"  "Thou — living  human  being,"  "He — 
living  human  being,"  and  so  on.  Even  a  language  spoken  by  so 
cultured  a  people  as  the  ancient  Peruvians  bears  unmistakable 
traces  of  this  process,  as  has  been  shown  by  Von  Tschudi  in  his 
admirable  analysis  of  that  tongue ;  and  the  language  of  the  Baures 
of  Bolivia  still  presents  examples  of  verbs  conjugated  without  pro- 
nouns or  pronominal  affixes.* 

The  extraordinary  development  of  the  pronouns  in  many  Ameri- 
can languages — some  have  as  many  as  eighteen  different  forms  as 
the  person  is  contemplated  as  standing,  lying,  in  motion,  at  rest, 
alone,  in  company,  etc.,  etc. — this  multiplicity  of  forms,  I  say,  is 
proof  to  the  scientific  linguist  that  these  tongues  have  but  recently 
developed  this  grammatical  category.  Wherever  we  find  over- 
growth, the  soil  is  new  and  the  crop  rank. 

In  spite  of  the  significance  attached  to  the  phonetic  elements 
they  are,  in  many  American  languages,  singularly  vague  and  fluctu- 
ating. If  in  English  we  were  to  pronounce  the  three  words,  /oU, 
nor,  roll,  indifferently  as  one  or  the  other,  you  see  what  violence  we 
should  do  to  the  theory  of  our  alphabet.  Yet  analogous  examples 
are  constant  in  many  American  languages.  Their  consonants  are 
"alternating,"  in  large  groups,  their  vowels  "permutable."     M. 


*  "Ea  hat  offenbar  tiine  Zelt  gegeben,  In  dcr  ka  alleiniges  Pron.  pen.  fUr  alle  diel  Fetm- 
neu  war,  erst  allmiibUota  entwickelten  sich  <!o  jta,  ego,  ka  m,  tu,  ia  y,  iUe."  J.  J.  von 
Tschudi,  Organitmui  der  KheUva  Sprache,  9. 184  (Leipzig,  1884),  Tn  the  language  of  the 
Baurea  of  Bolivia  when  the  verb  takes  the  negative  termination  apieo,  the  pronoininal 
ilgns  are  discarded ;  thus,  era,  to  drink,  a  drink ;  erapico  "  I,  thou,  lie,  we,  you,  they,  do 
not  drink,  iitglo,  Arte  tU  la  Lmgtta  de  los  Ittdioi  Baures,  p.  62  {Parti,  1880).  This  reveals 
a  time  when  both  affirmative  and  negative  verbals  dispensed  with  pronouns  altogether. 


I'  I 


« 


ds  have  a  subjeo 
ch  coincidences 
at  chance  itself 

that  between  se(f 
hat  speech  could 
American  lan- 
ered  generations 

discrimination, 
ree  persons  and 
vas  undoubtedly 
e  did  it  become 
nto  the  notions, 
being,"  "  He— 
e  spoken  by  so 
rs  unmistakable 

Tschudi  in  his 
;e  of  the  Baures 
ed  without  pro- 

n  many  Ameri- 
Terent  forms  as 
notion,  at  rest, 
forms,  I  say,  is 
ve  but  recently 
we  find  over- 

»netic  elements 
gue  and  fluctu- 
ree  words,  /off, 
lat  violence  we 
gous  examples 
consonants  are 
nutable."     M. 

filr  alle  dtel  Feno- 
y,llle."  J.J.  von 
he  Jaoguage  of  the 
Bo>  the  pronominal 
,  we,  you,  they,  do 
880;.  Thlsreveftla 
nouns  altogether. 


Petitot  calls  this  phenomenon  "literal  aflBinity,"  and  shows  that  ia 
the  Tinn6  it  takes  place  not  only  between  consonants  of  the  same 
group,  the  labials  for  instance,  but  of  different  groups,  as  labials 
with  dentals,  and  dentals  with  nasals.  These  differences  are  not 
merely  dialectic;  they  are  found  in  the  same  village,  the  same 
family,  the  same  person.  They  are  not  peculiar  to  the  Tinn6 ;  they 
recur  in  the  Klamath.  Dr.  Behrendt  was  puzzled  with  them  in  the 
Chapanec.  "  No  other  language,"  he  writes,  "  has  left  me  in  such 
doubt  as  this  one.  The  same  person  pronounces  the  same  word 
differently ;  and  when  his  attention  is  called  to  it,  will  insist  that  it 
is  the  same.  Thus,  for  devil  he  will  give  Tixambi  and  Sisaimbui; 
for  hell,  Nakupaju  and  Nakapoti"*  Speaking  of  the  Guarani, 
Father  Montoya  says,  "There  is  in  this  language  a  constant  Chang- 
ing of  the  letters  for  which  jio  sufficient  rules  can  be  given,  "f  And 
Dr.  Darapsky  in  his  recently  published  study  of  the  Araucanaian 
of  Chile  gives  the  following  equation  of  permutable  letters  in  that 
tongue : 

B  =  W  =  F  =  U  =  fT  =  I  —  E  =  G  =  GH  =  HU.J 

The  laws  of  the  conversion  of  sounds  of  the  one  organ  into 
those  of  another  have  not  yet  been  discovered,  but  the  above  ex- 
amples, which  are  by  no  means  isolated  ones,  serve  to  admonish  us 
that  the  phonetic  elements  of  primitive  speech  probably  had  no 
fixedness. 

There  is  another  oddity  about  some  of  these  consonantal  sounds 
which  I  may  notice  in  passing.  Some  of  them  are  not  true  elemen- 
tary sounds ;  they  cannot  stand  alone,  but  must  always  hav6  another 
consonant  associated  with  them.  Thus,  the  labial  B  is  common  in 
Guarani ;  but  it  must  always  be  preceded  by  an  M.  In  Nahuatl  the 
liquid  L  is  frequent ;  but  it  is  the  initial  of  no  word  in  that  lan- 
guage. The  Nahuas  apparently  could  not  pronounce  it,  unless  some 
other  articulate  sound  preceded  it. 

Albornoz,  in  his  Grammar  of  the  Chapanec  Tongue%,  states  that 
the  natives  cannot  prohounce  an  initial  B,  G,  Y,  or  D,  without 
uttering  an  N  sound  before  it. 

The  third  point  in  the  phonology  of  these  tongues  to  which  I 
alluded  is  the  frequency  with  which  the  phonetic  elements  as  graphi- 

•  Apuntet  tdbre  la  Lengna  Chapaneca,  MS. 

t  Arte  de  la  Ijengua  Quarani,  p.  93. 

X  Iji  Lengua  ArauewM,,  p.  15  (Santiago  de  (Me,  1888). 

i  Albornoi,  Arte  de  la  Lengua  Chapantea,  p.  10. 


IJIH-I.-.H    .  '.■aWWCTiaini.iii.iim.w.ii) 


cally  expressed,  are  inadequate  to  convey  the  idea.  I  may  quote  a 
remark  by  Howse  in  his  Cree  Grammar,  which  is  true  probably  of 
all  primitive  speech,  "  Emphasis,  accent  and  modifications  of  vocal 
expression  which  are  inadequately  expressed  in  writing,  seem  to 
constitute  an  essential,  perhaps  the  vital  part  of  Indian  language." 
In  such  modifications  1  include  tone,  accent,  stress,  vocal  inflection, 
quantity  and  pause.  These  are  with  much  difficulty  or  not  at  all 
inchic'able  in  a  graphic  method,  and  yet'  are  frequently  significant. 
Take  the  pause  or  hiatus.  I  have  already  mentioned  that  in  Tinnd 
it  correlates  a  whole  series  of  ideas.  M.  Belcourt,  in  his  Grammar 
of  the  Sauteux,  an  Algonkin  dialect,  states  that  the  pause  may  com- 
pletely change  the  meaning  of  a  word  and  place  it  in  another  class ; 
it  is  also  essential  in  that  language  in  the  formation  of  the  tenses.* 
This  is  the  case  in  the  Giiarani  of  South  America.  Montoya  illus- 
trates it  by  the  example :  Peru  o'u,  Peter  ate  it ;  but  Peruou,  Peter 
came;  quite  another  thing  you  will  observe.f 

The  stress  laid  on  a  vowel-sound  often  alters  its  meaning.  In  the 
Sauteux,  Belcourt  points  out  that  this  constitutes  the  only  distinc- 
tion between  the  first  and  second  persons  in  participles.  In  the 
Nahuatl  this  alone  distinguishes  many  plural  forms  from  their  sin- 
gulars ;  and  many  similar  examples  could  be  cited. 

With  difficulties  of  this  nature  to  encounter,  a  person  accustomed 
to  the  definite  phonology  of  European  tongues  is  naturally  at  a 
loss.  The  Spanish  scholar  Uricoechea  expresses  this  in  relating  his 
efforts  to  learn  the  Chibcha  of  New  Granada,  a  tongue  also  charac- 
terized by  these  fluctuating  phonetics.  He  visited  the  region  where 
it  is  still  spoken  with  a  grammar  and  phrase  book  in  his  hand,  and 
found  to  his  disappointment  that  they  could  not  understand  one 
word  he  said.  He  then  employed  a  native  who  spoke  Spanish,  and 
with  him  practiced  some  phrases  until  he  believed  he  had  them  per- 
fect. Another  disappointment.  Not  one  of  them  was  understood. 
He  returned  to  his  teacher  and  again  repeated  them ;  but  what  was 
his  dismay  when  not  even  his  teacher  recognized  a  single  word  ! 
After  that,  Uricoechea  gave  up  the  attempt. | 

Leaving  now  the  domain  of  phonology  and  turning  to  that  of 
lexicography,  I  will  point  out  to  you  a  very  curious  phenomenon  in 
primitive  speech.     I  have  already  alluded  to  it  in  quoting  M.  Peti- 


*  Prlncipet  de  la  langue  det  Sauvaoet  appelUi  Sauteux.    Introd. 

t  AriK  de  la  Lengua  Quarani,  6  mat  bien  2Upi  For  el  P.  Antonio  Bull  de  Montoya,  p.  100. 

t  OrainaUca  de  la  Lengua  Chibcha.    Introd. 


I.     I  may  quote  a 
!  true  probably  of 
fic.itions  of  vocal 
writing,  seem  to 
ndian  language." 
,  vocal  inflection, 
:ulty  or  not  at  all 
ently  significant, 
ed  that  in  Tinn6 
in  his  Grammar 
pause  may  com- 
in  another  class; 
1  of  the  tenses.* 
Montoya  illus- 
liPeruou,  Peter 

leaning.  In  the 
the  only  distinc- 
ticiples.  In  the 
s  from  their  sin- 

rson  accustomed 
i  naturally  at  a 
is  in  relating  his 
gue  also  charac- 
he  region  where 
1  his  hand,  and 
understand  one 
ke  Spanish,  and 
s  had  them  per- 
N3&  understood. 
;  but  what  was 
a  single  word  I 

iiing  to  that  of 
phenomenon  in 
loting  M.  Peti- 

de  Montoya,  p.  100. 


II 

tot's  remark  that  in  Tinn6  a  sound  often  means  both  a  notion  and  ' 
its  opposite ;  that,  for  instance,  the  same  word  may  express  good  and 
bad,  and  another  both  high  and  low.  To  use  M.  Petitot's  own 
words,  "a  certain  number  of  consonants  have  the  power  of  express- 
ing a  given  order  of  ideas  or  things,  and  also  the  contradictory  of 
this  order."  In  Tinn6,  a  great  many  words  for  opposite  ideas  are 
the  same  or  nearly  the  same,  derived  from  the  same  significant  ele- 
ments. Thus,  son  good,  sona  bad ;  tezo,  sweet,  tezon  bitter ;  ya 
immense,  ya  .very  small ;  inla  one  time,  inlasin  every  time ;  and 
so  on. 

This  union  of  opposite  significations  reappears  in  the  ultimate 
radicals  of  the  Cree  language.  These,  says  Mr.  Howse,*  whose 
Grammar  I  again  quote,  express  Being  in  its  positive  and  negative 
modes;  "  These  opposite  modes  are  expressed  by  modifications  of 
the  same  element,  furnishing  two  classes  of  terms  widely  different 
from  each  other  in  signification. "  In  Cree  the  leading  substantive 
radical  is  eth,  which  originally  meant  both  Being  and  Not-Being. 
In  the  present  language  elh  remains  as  the  current  positive,  ith  as 
the  current  privative.  It  means  within,  ut  without ;  and  like  par- 
allelisms run  through  many  expressions,  indicating  that  numerous 
series  of  opposite  ideas  are  developments  from  the  same  original 
sounds. 

I  have  found  a  number  of  such  examples  in  the  Nahuatl  of  Mex- 
ico, and  I  am  persuaded  that  they  are  very  usual  in  American 
tongues.  Dr.  Carl  Abel  has  pointed  out  many  in  the  ancient  Cop- 
tic, and  I  doubt  not  they  were  characteristic  of  all  primitive 
speech. 

To  explain  their  presence  we  must  reflect  on  the  nature  of  the 
human  mind,  and  the  ascertained  laws  of  thought.  One  of  these 
fundamental  and  necessary  laws  of  thought,  that  usually  called  the 
second,  was  expressed  by  the  older  logicians  in  the  phrase  Omnis 
determinatio  est  negatio,  and  by  their  modern  followers  in  the  formula, 
"  A\%  not  not- A  ;"  in  dther  words,  a  quality,  an  idea,  and  element 
of  knowledge,  can  rise  into  cognition  only  by  being  limited  by  that 
which  it  is  not.  That  by  which  it  is  limited  is  kndwn  in  logic  as 
its  privative.  In  a  work  published  some  years  ago  I  pointed  out 
that  this  privative  is  not  an  independent  thought,  as  some  have 
maintained,  but  that  the  positive  and  its  privative  are  really  two 

•  See  How«e,  Qrammar  of  the  Cree  Language,  pp.  16, 134, 186, 16»,  etc 


IMMI* 


if 

aspects  of  the  same  thought.*  This  highly  important  distinction 
explains  how  in  primitive  speech,  before  the  idea  had  risen  into  clear 
cognition,  both  it  and  its  privative  were  expressed  by  the  same 
sound;  and  when  it  did  rise  into  such  cognition,  and  then  into 
expression,  the  original  unity  is  exhibited  by  the  identity  of  the 
radical.  Thus  it  happens  that  from  such  an  unex|)ected  quarter  as  an 
analysis  of  Cree  grammar  do  we  obtain  a  confirmation  of  the  start- 
ing point  of  the  logic  of  Hegel  in  his  proposition  of  the  identity 
of  the  Being  and  the  Not-being  as  the  ultimate  equation  of  thought. 

The  gradual  development  of  grammar  is  strikingly  illustrated  in 
these  languages.  Their  most  prominent  trait  is  what  is  called  incor- 
poration. Subject,  verb,  direct  object  and  remote  object  are  all 
expressed  in  one  word.  Some  have  claimed  that  there  are  Ameri- 
can languages  of  which  this  is  not  true;  but  I  think  I  have  shown 
in  an  essay  published  a  few  years  ago,t  that  this  opinion  arises  from 
our  insufficient  knowledge  of  the  alleged  exceptions.  At  any  rate, 
this  incorporation  was  undoubtedly  a  trait  of  primitive  speech  in 
America  and  elsewhere.  Primitive  man,  said  Herder,  was  like  a 
baby;  he  wanted  to  say  all  at  once.  He  condensed  his  whole  sen- 
tence  into  a  single  word.  Archdeacon  Hunter,  in  his  "  Lecture  on 
the  Cree  Language,''  gives  as  an  example  the  Scriptural  phrase,  "  I 
shall  have  you  for  my  disciples,"  which,  in  that  tongue,  is  expressed 
by  one  word.  J 

So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  analyze  these  primitive  sentence- 
words,  they  always  express  being  in  relation;  and  hence  they  par- 
take of  the  nature  of  verbs  rather  than  nouns.  In  this  conclusion 
I  am  obliged  to  differ  with  the  eminent  linguist  Professor  Steinthal 
who,  in  his  profound  exposition  of  the  relations  of  psychology  to 
grammar,  maintains  that  while  the  primitive  sentence  was  a  single 
word,  that  word  was  a  noun,  a  name.§ 

It  is  evident  that  the  primitive  man  did  not  connect  his  sentences. 
One  followed  the  other  disjointedly,  unconnectedly.     This  is  so 

•  The  Religious  SmHment;  lit  Source  and  Aim.  A  OotiMbutlon  lo  the  Science  qf 
Settgion.  By  D.  O.  Brlnton,  p.  81  (New  York,  ]«76).  The  statement  In  the  text  can  be 
iUgebraicaUy  demonatntted  In  the  mathematical  form  of  logic  as  set  forth  by  Prof. 
Boole,  thus:  A  —  not  (not  -  A);  which,  in  ita  mathematical  expression  becomes! 
X  —  X  .  Whence  by  transposition  and  substitution  we  derive,  a;'  —  1 ;  in  which  equa- 
tion 1  —  ^.    See  Boole,  An  InvetUgalion  into  the  Laws  qf  Thought  (London,  1854). 

t  On  Poty»ytUhesi»  and  Incorporation,  in  Procteding$  of  the  American  Pbllotophlcal 
Booleiy,  1885. 

t  On  the  Grammatical  OonttrucHon  of  the  Ore*  Language,  p.  12  (London,  1876). 
fl  Steinthal,  QramaUk,  Logik  w^  Ptgchohgie,  s.  825. 


ilf;: 


artant  distinction 
ad  risen  into  clear 
sed  by  the  same 
n,  and  then  into 
e  identity  of  the 
:ted  quarter  as  an 
ition  of  the  start- 
n  of  the  identity 
ation  of  thought, 
igly  ilhistrated  in 
at  is  called  incor- 
te  object  are  all 

there  are  Ameri- 
nk  I  have  shown 
>inion  arises  from 
IS.  At  any  rate, 
imitive  speech  in 
;rder,  was  like  a 
ed  his  whole  sen- 

his  "Lecture  on 
ptural  phrase,  "  I 
igue,  is  expressed 

•imitive  sentence- 
hence  they  par- 
n  this  conclusion 
rofessor  Steinthal 
of  psychology  to 
:nce  was  a  single 

ect  his  sentences, 
dly.     This  is  so 

lom  to  the  Science  of 
it  in  the  text  can  be 
as  get  forth  by  Prof, 
expression  becomes, 
—  1 ;  in  which  equa- 
ondon,  1864). 

lericon  Pbllotophlcal 
ion,  1876). 


13 

plainly  marked  in  American  tongues  that  the  machinery  for  con- 
necting sentences  is  absent.  This  machinery  consists  properly  of 
the  relative  pronoun  and  the  conjunction.  You  will  be  surprised 
to  hear  that  there  is  no  American  language,  none  that  I  know, 
which  possesses  either  of  these  parts  of  speech.  That  which  does 
duty  for  the  conjunction  in  the  Maya  and  Nahuatl,  for  instance,  is 
a  noun  meaning  associate  or  companion,  with  a  prefixed  possessive.* 

Equally  foreign  to  primitive  speech  was  any  expression  of  time 
in  connection  with  verbal  forms;  in  other  words,  there  was  no  such 
thing  as  tenses.  We  are  so  accustomed  to  link  actions  to  time,  past, 
present,  or  future,  that  it  is  a  little  difficult  to  understand  how  this 
accessory  can  be  omitted  in  intelligible  discourse.  It  is  perfectly 
evident,  however,  from  the  study  of  many  American  tongues  that 
at  one  period  of  their  growth  they  possessed  for  a  long  interval  only 
one  tense,  which  served  indifferently  for  past,  present,  and  future  ;t 
and  even  yet  most  of  them  form  the  past  and  future  by  purely  ma- 
terial means,  as  the  addition  of  an  adverb  of  time,  by  accent, 
quantity  or  repetition,  and  in  others  the  tense  relation  is  still  un- 
known. | 

In  some  tongues,  the  Omagua  of  the  upper  Orinoco  for  example, 
there  is  no  sort  of  connection  between  the  verbal  stem  and  its  signs 
of  tense,  mode  or  person.  They  have  not  even  any  fixed  order. 
In  such  languages  there  is  no  difference  in  sound  between  the  words 
for  "I  marry,"  and  "my  wife;"  "I  eat,"  and  "my  food,"  be- 
tween "  Paul  dies,"  "Paul  died,"  "Paul  will  die,"  and  "Paul  is 
dead."§  Through  such  tongues  we  can  distinctly  perceive  a  time 
when  the  verb  had  neither  tense,  mode,  nor  person ;  when  it  was 
not  even  a  verb  nor  yet  a  verbal,  but  an  epicene  sound  which  could 
be  adapted  to  any  service  of  speech. 

•  In  Maya  the  conjunction  "  and  "  is  rendered  by  yta,  a  compoand  of  the  possessive 
pronoun,  third  person,  singular  y,  and  ett,  companion.  The  Nahuatl,  ihxian,  is  precisely 
(he  same  la  composition. 

t  Die  meisten  amertkanischen  Sprachen  haben  die  Eigenthttmltchlcett,  dass  in  der 
Regel  die  Haupttempora  in  Anwendung  kommen  und  unter  diosen  besonders  da« 
Piiiaens,  selbat  wenn  Ton  elner  beatlmmten,  besonders  aber  von  einer  unbestimmten 
Vergangenheit  gesprochen  wird.  J.  J.  von  Tschudi,  Organigmui  der  Kheitm  Spracke,  s, 
196.  The  same  tense  is  also  employed  for  future  occurrences.  What  das-ical  gram- 
marians call  "the  historical  present,"  will  Illustrate  this  employment  of  a  single  tense 
for  past  and  fliture  time. 

X  The  Chlqulta  of  Bollvl*  Is  ao  extreme  example.  "  La  distinction  du  paas«,  dn  pr^ 
sent  et  du  flitnr  n'extate  pas  dans  cette  langue  «trange."  Arte  v  VoedmlaHo  d«  la  Lmgua 
CMiiuUa.  Por  L.  Adam,  y  V.  Henry,  p.  x. 

iOnthe  Verb  M  American  Lamguaoe$.  By  Wllhelm  von  Humboldt.  Translated  by  D. 
G.  Brlnton,  In  Proceedingi  of  the  American  PhUomphlcal  Society,  18S5. 


»4 


It  is  also  evident  that  things  were  not  thought  of,  or  talked  of, 
out  of  their  natural  relations.  There  are  still  in  roost  An^erican 
tongues  large  classes  of  words,  such  as  the  parts  of  the  body  and 
terms  of  kinship,  which  cannot  stand  alone.  They  must  always  be 
accompanied  by  a  pronoun  expressing  relation. 

Few  American  tongues  have  any  adjectives,  the  Cree,  for  instance, 
not  a  dozen  in  all.  Prepositions  are  equally  rare,  and  articles  are 
not  found.  These  facts  testify  that  what  are  called  "  the  gram- 
matical categories"  were  wholly  absent  in  the  primitive  speech  of 
man. 

So  also  were  those  adjectives  which  are  called  numerals.  There 
are  ^^merican  tongues  which  have  no  words  for  any  numerals  what- 
ever. The  numerical  concepts  one,  two,  three,  four,  cannot  be 
expressed  in  these  languages  for  lack  of  terms  with  any  such  mean- 
ing.* This  was  a  great  puzzle  to  the  missionaries  when  they  under- 
took to  expound  to  their  flocks  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  They 
were  in  worse  case  even  than  that  missionary  to  an  Oregon  tribe, 
who,  to  convey  the  notion  of  soul  to  his  hearers,  could  find  no 
word  in  their  language  nearer  to  it  than  one  which  meant  "  the 
lower  gut." 

A  very  interesting  chapter  in  the  study  of  these  tongues  is  that 
which  reveals  the  evolution  of  specific  distinctions,  those  inductive 
generalizations  under  which  primitive  man  classified  the  objects  of 
the  universe  about  him.  These  distinctions  were  either  grammatical 
or  logical,  that  is,  either  formal  or  material.  That  most  widely 
seen  in  America  is  a  division  of  all  existences  into  those  which  are 
considered  living  and  those  considered  not  living.  This  consti- 
tutes the  second  great  generalization  of  the  primitive  mind,  the 
first,  as  I  have  said,  having  been  that  into  Being  and  Not-being. 
The  distinctions  of  Living  and  Not-living  gave  rise  to  the  animate 
and  inanimate  conjugations.  A  grammatical  sex  distinction,  which 
is  the  prevailing  one  in  the  grammars  of  the  Aryan  tongues,  does 
not  exist  in  any  American  dialect  known  to  me.f 

It  is  true  that  abstract  general  terms  are  absent  or  rare  in  the 

•  A  striking  example  is  the  Chiqulta  of  Bolivia.  "  No  se  puede  en  chiquito,  ni  contar 
do8,  treg,  cuatro,  etc.,  ni  decir  segundo,  tercero,  etc."  Arte  y  Vocabvlarto  de  la  Lengua 
Chiquita,  p.  19  (Paris,  1880). 

t  Those  distinctiODB,  apparently  of  sex,  called  by  M.  Luoien  Adam  anlhropie  and  mef- 
anlkropic,  jrrhenic  and  metarrhenie,  found  in  certain  American  tongues,  belong  to  the 
material,  not  the  formal  part  of  the  language,  and,  strictly  speaking,  are  distinctions  not 
really  based  on  sexual  oonsiderationa.  See  Adam,  Du  Qeare  dans  {«a  IHvenet  Languei 
(Paris,  1883). 


If 

moBt  primitive  tongues.  On  the  other  hand,  we  find  in  them  a  great 
many  classificatory  particles.  These  correspond  only  remotely  to 
anylhing  known  in  Aryan  speech,  and  seem  far  more  abstract  than 
generic  nouns.  I  will  illustrate  what  they  are  by  an  example  takeii 
from  the  Hidatsa,  a  dialect  of  the  Dakota. 

The  word  for  sled  in  that  dialect  is  mida-maidutsada.  The  first 
part  of  this  compound,  mida,  means  anything  of  wood  or  into  which 
wood  enters.  Fire  is  midt  because  it  is  kept  up  with  wood.  With 
the  phonetic  laxity  which  I  have  before  noted,  the  first  syllable  mi 
may  as  correctly  be  pronounced  bi  or  wi.  It  is  a  common  nominal 
prefix,  of  vague  significance,  but  seems  to  classify  objects  as  distinc- 
tives.  Ma  designates  objects  whose  immediate  use  is  not  expressed  j 
/denotes  instrument  or  material ;  du,  conveys  that  the  cause  of  the 
action  is  not  specified ;  tsa  intimates  tl.e  action  is  that  of  separa- 
ting; da,  that  this  is  done  quickly  (tsa-da,  to  slide).* 

Thus  by  the  juxtaposition  of  one  classificatory  particle  after  an- 
other, seven  in  number,  all  of  them  logical  universals,  the  savage 
makes  up  the  name  of  the  specific  object. 

This  system  was  probably  the  first  adopted  by  man  when  he  be- 
gan to  set  in  order  his  perceptions  within  the  categories  of  his  un- 
derstanding with  the  aim  of  giving  them  vocal  expression.  It  is 
a  plan  which  we  find  most  highly  developed  in  the  rudest  languages, 
and  therefore  we  may  reasonably  believe  that  it  characterized  pre- 
historic speech. 

The  question  has  been  put  by  psychological  grammarians,  which 
one  of  the  senses  most  helped  man  in  the  creation  of  language,  or 
to  express  it  in  modern  scientific  parlance,  was  primitive  man  a 
visuaire  or  an  auditaire  ?  Did  he  model  his  sounds  after  what  he 
heard,  or  what  he  saw?  The  former  opinion  has  been  the  more 
popular,  and  has  given  rise  to  the  imitative  or  "  onomatopoetic  " 
theory  of  language.  No  doubt  there  is  a  certain  degree  of  truth  in 
this,  but  the  analysis  of  American  tongues  leans  decidedly  toward 
classing  primitive  man  among  the  vhuaires.  His  earliest  significant 
sounds  seem  to  have  been  expressive  of  motion  and  rest,  energy  and 
its  absence,  space  and  direction,  color  and  form,  and  the  like.  A 
different  opinion  has  been  maintained  by  Darwin  and  by  many  who 
have  studied  the  problems  presented  by  the  origin  of  words  from 
a  merely  physical  or  physiological  standpoint,  but  a  careful  investi- 

*  Wuhington  Matthews,  Qrammatt  and  Dtettonart/  qf  the  Language  <4  Ifie  ISdatea 
(New  York.  1878). 


■'? 


gktion  shows  thAt  it  was  the  sensn  of  sight  farther  (hftti  of  heariAf 
Which  wai  the  promftet  to  vocal  utterance.  Bat  the  consideration 
of  the  souree  of  primitive  significant  sounds  lies  without  the  bounds 
of  my  present  study. 

It  will  be  seen  from  th<'se  remarks  thnt  the  primitive  speech  of 
man  was  far  more  rudimentary  than  any  language  known  fo  us.  It 
had  no  grammatical  farm }  so  fluctuating  #ere  its  phonetics  and  so 
ihuch  depended  on  gesture,  (one,  and  stress,  that  its  words  could 
Aot  have  been  reduced  to  writing,  nor  arranged  in  alphabetic 
s^uence ;  these  words  often  signified  logical  contradictories,  and 
which  of  the  antithetic  meanings  wa&  intended  could  be  guessed 
only  from  the  Accent  or  a  sign ;  it  possessed  no  prepositions  nor 
conjunctions,  no  numerals,  no  pronouns  of  any  kind,  no  forms  to 
express  singular  or  phiral,  male  nor  femsle,  past  nor  present ;  the 
different  vowet-sounds  and  the  different  consonantal  groups  conveyed 
specific  significanc«,  and  were  of  more  import  than  the  syllables 
#hich  they  fornied.  The  concept  of  time  came  much  later  than  (hat 
of  space,  and  for  a  long  while  was  absent. 


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